What is Cancel Culture?

“cancel culture n. the action or practice of publicly boycotting, ostracizing,

or withdrawing support from a person, institution, etc., thought to be
promoting culturally unacceptable ideas.”
(OED Online, 2021)

“The concept of a ‘cancel culture’ can be defined broadly as attempts to

ostracize someone for violating social norms. The notion has also been
understood more narrowly as “the practice of withdrawing support for (or
cancelling [sic.]) public figures and companies after they have done or said
something considered objectionable or offensive” [Lizza, 2020]. This practice is
analogous to the tactic of consumer-boycotts … a common form of political
activism.”
(Norris, 2020)
• Term originated in the 1991 American crime film New Jack City, written by
Barry Michael Cooper
• Motions to ‘cancel” are often begun online through social media in response
to actions, comments or opinions expressed by public figures
• Few of these figures have truly been cancelled by the power of public backlash
in a career-ending way
• Historical figures have also had their legacies questioned and calls have been
made to erase them from the record
• Parallels and extensions of cancel culture can be found throughout history
Now vs. Then, Boycott vs. Erasure
• Current cancel culture is often focused on accountability, in order to give a voice to those
who have been negatively affected by someone’s beliefs or behaviour (Romano, 2020).
• Boycotting as an initiator of social change is frequently found throughout recent history.
Examples include the Irish Land League’s campaign against an unfair landlord, and the
Montgomery Bus boycott of the American civil rights movement in 1955.
• There are fears that ‘cancelling’ historical figures as opposed to examining their actions
may lead inaccurate accounts further damaging to progressive social change (Reville,
2021).
• The erasure of certain cultures, religions, sexualities and so on from historical records has
been a tool of domination and propaganda throughout history, not a progressive force for
good (Rolling, 2021)
 “How could they persuasively portray ancient Germans and their modern
descendants as a master race if indeed they had played little, if any, part in the
great early advances of human civilisation?
The answer to this problem, in Himmler’s mind, lay in more German
scholarship — scholarship of the right political stripe. So he created the
Ahnenerbe. He conceived of this research organization as an elite think tank, a
place brimming with brilliant mavericks and brainy young upstarts—up-and-
comers who would give traditional science a thorough cleansing.”
From ‘The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust’ by
Heather Pringle
Regressive or Progressive?
• In the post-truth age new ideologies can easily gain traction via grassroots campaigns on
social media, thereby challenging institutions and governments who were previously the
gatekeepers of cultural thinking.
• These same institutions, however, are often still the ones with the power to ‘cancel’, and
can choose to publicly fire a person as opposed to addressing a problematic culture.
• Those favouring transformative thinking have suggested different ways than cancelling
to deal with problematic histories.
“The real question should be ‘What is the impact of what I’m doing and what are the relationships
and power dynamics that are being furthered by this?’ When performing historical pieces without
any contextual framing, [what] … we’re buying into is the context that people have assigned to it
historically, which is that this is a “master” work of Western European society. This comes with all
sorts of baggage – racist baggage, classist baggage.”
(Anzaldúa, quoted in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra blog, 2020)
References & Bibliography
Online article Bond-Nelms, C. (2018, February 9) Boycotts, Movements and Marches. AARP. Accessed 4/1/22
https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/history/info-2018/civil-rights-events-fd.html#quest1
Online article Burke, K. (2021, October 13) Sacked Sony Music boss Denis Handlin stripped of honorary award in wake of allegations of a toxic workplace. The Accessed 5/1/22
Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/13/sacked-sony-music-boss-denis-handlin-stripped-of-honorary-award-in-wake-
of-allegations-of-toxic-workplace
Paper Norris, P. (2020, August 3) Closed Minds? Is a ‘Cancel Culture’ Stifling Academic Freedom and Intellectual Debate in Political Science? HKS Working Accessed 19/12/21
Paper No. RWP20-025, https://ssrn.com/abstract=3671026
Online article O’Dowd, N. (2021, May 13) The Irish invented the boycott because of the English land agent. Irish Central. Accessed 5/1/22
https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/irish-invented-boycott
Oxford English OED Online, ‘cancel culture’, Draft Additions March 2021 https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/26916#eid1315170560 Accessed 19/12/21
Dictionary
Film Peebles, M. (director) (1991) New Jack City. Written by Cooper, B. M and Wright, T. L.

Book Pringle, Heather (2007) The Master Plan: Himmler’s Scholars and the Holocaust. Hachette Books

Online article Reville, W. (2021, August 9) West in danger of repeating Soviet idealogical assault on science. The Irish Times. Accessed 5/1/22
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/west-in-danger-of-repeating-soviet-ideological-assault-on-science-1.4642852
Online article Rolling, James Haywood Jr (2021, March 14) A brief corrective history of cancel culture. Medium. https://medium.com/perceive-more/a-brief- Accessed 5/1/22
corrective-history-of-cancel-culture-7bb4a10e5d2b
Online article Romano, Aja (2020, August) Why we can’t stop fighting about cancel culture. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/12/30/20879720/what-is- Accessed 4/1/22
cancel-culture-explained-history-debate
Online article The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Blog (2020, December 11) Artists respond to Handel’s investment in the transatlantic slave trade. The Saint Paul Accessed 5/1/22
Chamber Orchestra . https://www.thespco.org/blog/artists-respond-to-handels-investment-in-the-transatlantic-slave-trade/